Maxime de la Rocheterie on Marie-Antoinette

"She was not a guilty woman, neither was she a saint; she was an upright, charming woman, a little frivolous, somewhat impulsive, but always pure; she was a queen, at times ardent in her fancies for her favourites and thoughtless in her policy, but proud and full of energy; a thorough woman in her winsome ways and tenderness of heart, until she became a martyr."

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

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Unless otherwise noted, any books I review on this blog I have either purchased or borrowed from the library, and I do not receive any compensation (monetary or in-kind) for the reviews.

Thursday, May 3, 2018

As an election-era 'Never Trumper,' which I've explained in detail here,
I believe that the most responsible way for me to judge his presidency
is on a fair-minded, piecemeal basis. When he's wrong or reckless, I say so. When he's doing well, I say so.
I see no point or value in sticking to a single narrative by
pretending that his good actions somehow aren't praiseworthy, or that
his defects don't exist. Some Trump-skeptical conservatives seem so
invested in criticizing him that they're either blinded to some of the
huge accomplishments playing out before their eyes, or they're allowing
the other drama -- both legitimate and exaggerated -- to drown out the
wins. This is a mistake. For all his manifest character flaws,
ideological heresies and frustrating indiscipline, President Trump is in
the process of notching a series of substantial victories for the
conservative movement and for America. Within the last few days, we've
seen the fruits of those efforts on three crucial fronts. (1) The US economy is strong and growing. (Read more.)

North Korea has released three US citizens detained there, the Financial Times reported Wednesday, citing a South Korean activist who campaigns for the release of detainees. The releases would meet some of the US's demands for North Korea to
demonstrate sincerity before a historic meeting between President Donald
Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — something that John Bolton,
Trump's hawkish national security adviser, reiterated during an interview on Fox News on Sunday. The three citizens—
Kim Dong-chul, Kim Sang-duk, and Kim Hak-song — have been released from
a labor camp and given health treatment and ideological education in
Pyongyang, the Financial Times report said. (Read more.)

Furthermore, it has been repeatedly proven that there was no Trump-Russian collusion. However, damage has been done. From The Hill:

As succinctly as possible, these are the facts:

The Trump
campaign never colluded with Moscow. However, Moscow inserted its lies
into documents paid for by the other campaign during a presidential
election. That propaganda was used to justify spying on Americans.
Illegally. And a serving director of U.S. intelligence helped to make
Russian propaganda look real as he leaked the fact that it had been
briefed to the newly elected president to the media company that would
later hire him. To that end, Vladimir Putin, the former KGB
colonel, with the help of James Clapper, Jim Comey, members of the media
and other Americans, achieved his goal: to “sow discord in American
society and undermine our faith in the democratic process.” (Read more.)

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